En route to his team’s loss to North Bay last Sunday, Los Angeles Kings prospect Jacob Moverare coughed up the puck right in front of his own net which was costly given that the Battalion scored just seconds later to make it 5-1 late in the second period. But, while Moverare’s Mississauga Steelheads did lose the game, they made things quite interesting in the third, scoring three times — one of those goals was assisted by Moverare himself for his first-career OHL point.

While the Steelheads entered Friday’s action with a not-so-stellar 1-4-0 record, Jacob Moverare is coming into his own as a solid piece of his team’s defensive corps. With each passing game, the Swedish youngster is gradually looking more comfortable on the ice and, while mistakes are still being made, the positive far outweighs the negative thus far.

On Friday night, just one night after losing in Windsor, the Steelheads were back home to host the Flint Firebirds. Unlike much of the previous week, though, the Steelheads looked much more competitive as they entered the third period trailing 2-0. In the third, though, the Steelheads scored twice — including the equalizer in the final minute — to send things to overtime. But while nothing was settled in the 3-on-3 session, Mississauga did win in the shootout to snap their three-game losing skid.

As for Moverare, while he was held pointless on Friday, he was nonetheless a factor, playing a strong defensive game.

Moverare continues to be aggressive in front of his own goal to squander any opposing scoring chances, has been reliable in one-on-one battles and is even tough to get off the puck. He does still have a tendency of surrendering the puck in his own zone but let’s remember that we are still only in the first half of October, which gives the blueliner plenty of time to adjust.

“I’m feeling more comfortable for every game,” Moverare told me following Friday night’s win. “Getting used to more hitting here than in Sweden and everything, a little harder game. So, I’m feeling more comfortable for every game and every shift that I’m out there.”

As for Friday’s comeback victory:

“It’s really good for morale,” Moverare said. “We needed basically– down 2-0 and score two goals the way we did and the way we won it, it’s really good for the morale, I think. We’ve got better confidence heading into next game and even if we’re down, we can turn it around and win. So, I think it’s really good for the team morale.”

Last week, Moverare spoke to me about his experiences at Kings camp a couple of weeks ago. Among other aspects, the defenseman pointed out that the Kings had sent him back to Mississauga asking him to work on certain areas of his game. I asked Moverare which areas specifically the Kings were hoping to see improvements in.

“Mostly my skating and getting stronger,” Moverare stated. “Getting more comfortable at the boards because at the next level, there are bigger guys and stronger. So, I definitely need to work on my skating so when they dump [the puck], I want to be first on the puck and everything like that. It’s a higher pace at the next level, so [the Kings] want me to get stronger and faster, a better skater so I can keep up with the next level.”

While he may not have registered any points on Friday, Moverare did start the evening on Mississauga’s top defensive pairing which shows that his team’s coaching staff has enough confidence in their rookie blueliner to give him that much responsibility. Of course, we are still in the early stages of a long season, so we will just see where Jacob Moverare goes from here — but things are certainly looking promising for the Kings prospect.

Up next for Moverare and the Steelheads will be the Guelph Storm who they will play host to on Wednesday night before hitting the road for three games. We will see then if the Steelheads can create their first winning streak of the season and, of course, what Jacob Moverare has in store.

About Ryan Cowley

Ryan Cowley has been writing about the Los Angeles Kings since 2009, beginning as the head writer and editor of Make Way for the Kings since its inception. Until the summer of 2015, Make Way was run by the FanvsFan Network (www.makewayforthekings.com) but has since become independent at its new address: www.makewayforthekings.net
Ryan is an NHL-accredited writer who has covered such events as the Stanley Cup Final and Stadium Series. He is also a graduate of Comedy Writing & Performance from Humber College in Toronto, Ontario.